Fireball Forward Question

[Dice Roller]

Hope someone can help.
Just trying to make sense of the White/Red dice thing in Fireball Forward.
OK, so, looking at the unit reference it says that Infantry Squads have 1 white and 1 red.
That's easy enough.
But under Infantry Teams it has 1/1 R}3

I can't work out what R}3 is trying to tell me.
Can anyone help?

[Dubar]

Just a guess but I'd say it means 1 white die and 3 red dice.

Last century I used to write maintenance procedures for the U.S. Navy.  We were instructed to write to a 9th grade level and not assume the sailors knew what we were talking about or meant.  I found it odd because the group I was in was the electronics warfare group, not your average knucklehead off the street.

Although...I actually got a feedback in, asking for a part number for a "known blown fuse" to test the circuit.  After the initial shock wore off I replied...Uh, just take the known GOOD fuse out then test the circuit!!!  I can only hope he was joking.

Things like 1/1 R}3 to a newbie are lost in translation.  Good thing is the internet is around now to help!!!

[Dice Roller]

Just a guess but I'd say it means 1 white die and 3 red dice.

No, it doesn't.
The 1/1 bit means 1 white and 1 red. I just can't make sense of the }3 bit, even after looking through the rule book.
An Infantry Team is smaller than an Infantry Squad. The Squad has 1/1 for its fire dice. One would presume that a Team, being fewer men, would be less effective than a squad. The }3 bit is presumably addressing that but I can't see how. The symbol used is not actually a wavy bracket thing, it's actually a 'greater than' symbol (but I don't see one on my keyboard so I can't type one). But even that's not leading me to an answer (it can't be 'the red dice must roll greater than a 3' because red dice only hit on a 6 and have no modifiers).
Fireball Forward does have a 'unique' dice mechanism and so unless you know the game it would be hard to make an assumption and try to guess what it means. You need the context of knowing the game.
But I do appreciate you trying to help.

[fred]

So the nomenclature is 1/1 R>3

On my keyboard > is shifted . (Shift and Full stop)

Could it be to do with the number of figures? I.e you only get the red dice with >3 figures?

Are there other examples of this type of notation?

[frank xerox]

Red dice divided by 3?
1/3?

[fred]

Strangely interested in this question - found this blog with unit cards http://paintingshed.blogspot.com/2022/10/further-thoughts-on-fireball-forward.html

He uses brackets around a second red dice for a squad - so I wonder if it is a second red dice when the squad is >3 (figures / hits / something)?

[Rhubarb633]

None of the above answers.

Here's what I have, from one of the online groups I used to follow. (I would credit the original author, but I tend to copy and save this stuff to my own FAQ documents and have long since lost the link to the original post):

Q. I have a rules question. What does the "R>3" mean in the stat 1/1 R>3?

 
A. So a regular infantry squad rolls 1 red and 1 white die. The white hits on 4+ modified by terrain, movement, op fire, etc. (it’s anywhere from 3-6). The red die always hits on 6. It is never modified.

A team or half squad (1/1 R>3) is “half as effective” as a full squad. So the white die only counts if the red die is over 3.

Remember that the red die only hits on 6, but a red roll of 4, or 5, or 6 is still needed for the white die to even count (regardless of if the white die shows a “hit”). Thus a red die that gets a 6, hits by itself AND also allows the white die to count (as long as the white die also hits).

That roughly translates to the half squad hitting half as much as a full squad with its full 1 white, 1 red.


Hope that helps.

[Dice Roller]

Thanks ever so much.
Am I being stupid or is that not mentioned in the rules anywhere?
Again, thanks for your help

[Rhubarb633]

Thanks ever so much.
Am I being stupid or is that not mentioned in the rules anywhere?
Again, thanks for your help

You are welcome. Happy to be of help.

I don't think there is any explanation in the rules!

Out of curiosity I just used the 'Find text' tool to find every instance of ">" in my PDF copy of the rules. The only results that came up are those listed in the unit stats. There doesn't appear to be any other reference or explanation in the main body of the rules. A rather glaring ommission. Having said that, I can only speak for 2nd edition. I never got round to getting the current (3rd edition).